Hundreds of residents fled from homes in Ikotos town in Eastern Equatoria State after a random shooting by men in uniform on Thursday morning, locals and a local official said.
On Tuesday, residents and local officials said calm had returned to the town after the SSPDF deployed to contain clashes between civilians and the army that erupted on Sunday. The melee left 3 dead and two injured.
Rose Mum, a resident of Hai Lokodoro in Ikotos town, said they are in hiding following the random shooting by men in military uniform and that other residents had fled to Uganda.
“It is raining on us here in the bush. People are running and those whose villages are near have run there and others have gone to Uganda,” she said. “Some of us who came from Juba and Torit are now suffering here in Ikotos and we are currently in a compound far away from the town.”
“We had returned reluctantly but had to run away again due to renewed shooting by soldiers,” Mum added.
The leader of the town’s youth, Ohisa Abraham, confirmed that residents had fled the town.
“It is true that many people have fled and many have entered Uganda. When the shooting started, people started running randomly,” he said. “When soldiers start shooting randomly, civilians will not stay. Some people are already on top of the mountains and those who have gone to Uganda may not come back.”
The commissioner of Ikotos County, Loholong Louis Jenisio, admitted that civilians were fleeing the town and called on those with guns to stop unnecessary shootings which he said destabilized security.
“After Sunday’s shooting, everybody ran into the bushes, and others still hiding. When people run for safety, bringing them back is hard,” he explained. “And then now shooting happened again and has forced the people to go into hiding. Some already left the country for Uganda.”
Lohure Timon, an SPLM-IO legislator representing Ikotos County in the state assembly appealed to the army to restore calm.
“The security situation in the area needs to be restored by the army and all the other security forces present, especially those who came as a neutral body to rescue the situation,” he said. “There should be a rule of law because no one is above the law. As I talk now, the freshly deployed troops have informed the people not to run away and we are encouraging those who fled to Uganda to come back.”
“There will also be a need for a peace dialogue between civilians and the army because Ikotos has been fragile for the last two months,” the legislator added.
Meanwhile, a Catholic priest in Torit Diocese, Fr. Peter Ben Louis, is calling on the state and national governments to work together to find the root causes of the conflict and restore peace in the county.
“I will ask all the people of Ikotos County not to give up, this is a collective responsibility. All our leaders whether in the government, let us come together and address this issue one by one and am sure peace will come to our county,” he said.